Ab to D is the tritone mofo! Was trying to think why there was enharmonic relationship when there never is.
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Tru it was just before zleep cummah when I wrote that but still it’s a legendary random transition 
What I was kind of saying is the op44 modulation was smooth and like entering a new dark tone colour whereas the modulation in the heroic is comical and I think intentionally abrupt.
Can you think of any pieces that manage a smooooth tritone modulation? 
Rezpec I’d appreciate that 
Speaking of Scriabin & polonaises. Best rec of Scriabin’s op21?
Zhukov is the best I’ve heard.
Xiayin Wang is good too, pozzibly one for da 
Schumann: Kreisleriana
Best recs? I love Horowitz in this but haven’t explored others.
Wang & Brand 
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Rezpec!
Also, I’m not the biggest fan of Debussy generally but I love L’isle Joyeuse in particular, favourite recs of it?
Yes Horowitz all the way, but there’s a really memorable performance with SR too. It’s a video where he’s playing it at an artist’s birthday party - it’s quite mesmerizing, and you can tell from the shots of the birthday boy that’s he’s completely lost in the music.
I don’t think that there’s a definitive Kreisleriana for me. In the first piece only Hofmann plays it the way I think it should go. His version is probably the one I like best, but it’s incomplete.
Damn, wikid perf. Huge audience too!
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This was to celebrate dancer / choreographer Moiseyev, Richter was just a guest for entertainment.
Hm, I found that rectum joy a bit bangy, actually. This is not the first time I’ve noticed this with this legend.
Determined not to go to bed, this put me on a quest tonight. I wouldn’t think so, but L’isle actually seems like one of those pieces which is surprisingly easy to characterize. I’ve listened to (not all to the end)
Francois
Gieseking
Richter
Ashkenazy
Bashkirov
Hough
Arrau
Kocsis
Weissenberg
de Larrocha
Fischer
…and none of them came across as failures. Horowitz is a head taller than all of them IMO, but the standouts otherwise to my ears were Arrau 1984 (as usual, somewhat plodding but rich sound & indisputable musicianship), Gieseking 1938 (exhilarating, near VH, if less refined pianism) and Richter (mesmerizing). Broadly speaking you can group them in two categorizes, where they either try to be light, swift and ecstatic; or rich, hypnotic and thoughtful. Surprisingly I thought the least successful ones were the ones which attempted a fusion. Also good, but I kept being reminded of how much more lush the sound world of Arrau and Richter was in slower passages, and how much more exhilarating Gieseking and Horowitz were in the faster.
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You recorded YW in this piece, no?
PlP. She could be good though - I’d love to hear both her and Volodos do this today.
Does Volodos play Debussy? I can’t recall having heard any from him.
Nah.
He should!
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Freire live is SO good. But tru, Horowitz, Gieseking, Richter are a cut above the rest.
Ashish went a bit nuts with this piece and chose 11 pianists for his vid
He describes them each like this -
Cho Seong-Jin: melting, beautifully voiced
Blechacz: nimble, playful
Bavouzet: natural, unmannered
Goerner: expansive, hushed
Crossley: hyper-expressive, rhetorical, improvisatory
Korstick: rich, played in big dramatic arcs
Vacatello: bright, clear, classical
Pollini: atmospheric, flowing
Kocsis: colourful, gorgeously tiered
Weissenberg: mesmeric, uncompromising, with huge dynamic range
Horowitz: intense, ecstatic
you guys forgot one of the better versions out there, Cliburn. Not the most extroverted performance, but very warm, colorful and a bit like Rachmaninoff with those slowly built up surges of sound.